Everything Needs A Name
by Clare Hope
Summary: Even after the bad guys are defeated, sometimes there are still some mistakes to fix and people to save. Angela is one of those people, and the team has to help her, but she's helping them, too, without realizing it. (Not mine, I just like to play in this universe sometimes! Actually, Angela is mine, but that's it.)
1. Chapter 1

It was very dark. Angela peered along the empty street, wondering why all of the streetlamps were out. At ten o'clock at night, the streets were usually lit up as bright as daylight by the yellow electric lights. What made it worse though was that it was freezing. It was also raining, and the wind was blowing so hard that she did not want to risk taking her umbrella out, for fear it would turn inside out and snap. All of these factors led to a very wet, cold, and miserable Angela.

It was a long walk to the shelter where the sixteen-year-old girl spent most of her nights. Searching for a job was difficult and arduous, and often required her to wander Cardiff for the whole day. She had not, as of yet, succeeded in getting hired.

Angela turned the corner. Still no streetlamps. _If only it were a full moon_, she thought ruefully. _Then I might be able to see where I'm going_. She tripped over a crack in the pavement, stumbling and nearly falling flat on her face. She managed to regain her balance, but she had that sense of panic arise in her chest, that loss of control, made worse by the darkness. Breathing hard, and trying to tell herself that there was no point in being terrified, she wiped away a raindrop clinging to her eyelashes before it could fall and sting her eye. The wind blew even harder then, and it seemed to whisper something to her.

A sudden sense that she was being followed tore through Angela's mind. She whipped around fearfully. The street was empty, but Angela couldn't shake the feeling off. She walked a few more paces, and then broke out into a run. She tore along the nearly pitch-black street, panting, and then she rounded another corner and found herself in a dead end alleyway. Pressing her back against the damp stone wall, she leaned her head back, the rain falling onto her face, and she let out a sigh. She chastised herself for being so stupid. _There was nothing there, idiot_, she told herself. She closed her eyes, breathing hard.

Through her eyelids, a bright light pulsed out. Her eyes snapped open fearfully. The white glow was nearly blinding, and Angela squinted, trying to adjust to the sudden glare. She began to see the outline of a shape, coming at her through the shine. Trying to keep composed, she shrank back a little bit. "Who's that, then?" she called. The shape got a little more defined. It didn't look…normal. Angela watched apprehensively, trying to decide whether she should try to run.

Then, losing all of her composure, Angela began to scream. She fell down against the wall, soaking her legs on the wet concrete ground. Her hands flung over her face instinctively to protect her, but the _thing_ kept coming, and the newly bright night turned back to pure black nothingness.

* * *

><p><em>Yeah, I know, sorry, they aren't here yet, be patient please. It's just the first chapter; I'll post the next couple ASAP, and the team will be there, I promise. <em>


	2. Chapter 2

Minutes, hours, days…what was the difference? Time didn't mean anything anymore. _Monotonous…monotonous…monotonous…_Angela chanted inside her head, only stopping when the word had ceased to have any sort of meaning. It was just a series of imagined sounds now.

_What next?_ she thought. She gazed up at the perfect white ceiling of her small, bare, silent prison. For the fourteenth time, she started counting. _One two three four five six seven eight…_ "One hundred," she said aloud. Then, backwards. "Ninety-nine, ninety-eight, ninety-seven…" _Four three two one_. She groaned and smashed her fist against the wall. "Damn it," she whispered.

When she closed her eyes, the light was dimmed, but she could still feel it glaring through her eyelids, turned red by the blood vessels in the thin layer of protective skin. She couldn't even tell where the light was coming from. There weren't any lamps or light-bulbs. It almost seemed to emanate from the walls, and it never stopped. No nights here, wherever _here _was.

The clarity of her vision blurred as her head rolled to one side. She could feel her own heart beating in her chest. She reached up and touched her cheek. It was wet, though she could not remember starting to cry. Now that she had, though, she couldn't stop. Angela curled up into a tight ball, her knees in her stomach and her arms wrapped around her face, hiding from the light in the sleeves of her pale grey jumper. Her shoulders shook, and there was no one to watch her sob.

_Imprisoned, abandoned, confined_, she began to list in her head. _Alone, alone, alone…_

* * *

><p><em>Thanks for bearing with me: Tosh, Jack, and Ianto will be here next chapter. I swear. There'll be a lot of short chapters, it's split into lots of points of view. <em>


	3. Chapter 3

Toshiko Sato was leaning back in her chair, her eyes drifting shut slowly. It was so quiet in the Hub that night. Gwen and Owen had both already gone home, and who knew where Jack and Ianto were. Honestly, she probably didn't want to know.

_Beep beep beep beep_! One of the energy-reading monitors let off a warning. Tosh sat up quickly, ignoring the sudden crick in her neck. Something _big_ had alerted her . "Jack!" she called urgently "Jack, Ianto! Come here!"

A loud scrambling noise came from Jack's office. Tosh looked over. The captain was fairly running towards her, some papers clutched in one hand. He looked worried. "Tosh! What's wrong? Are you alright?"

Tosh had to smile a little at his slight panic. "Jack, calm down. I'm fine, just, look. There's something huge, alien in origin, that our monitors just picked up…" She paused to glance back at the computer screen and checking the built in map/GPS system. "A few miles away, right into that big field and forest."

Jack nodded, obviously relieved that nothing was really wrong. "Get everything ready to go check it out. I'll go find Ianto, I think he's in the archives still. Don't bother Owen or Gwen. We can handle it." Jack strode away quickly, leaving the papers, slightly crumpled, on the edge of Tosh's desk. He was gone before Tosh could question his decision to take out the two least experienced members of the team on what could be a fairly important or dangerous mission. She stood up, but didn't leave the computer, trying to glean any more information about the nature of the energy site.

She frowned. That was interesting. Her program had detected the same sort of energy emanating from the whatever-it-was that had just appeared as from the trio of aliens they had caught just a week ago. She jotted a note of that down before rushing to gather equipment.

… … … … …

"Ianto?" Jack called out into the rows of dusty shelves filling the archives where the young Welshman spent most of his working time. Ianto appeared almost instantly from behind a shelf, his arms full of files.

"Sir?"

"Tosh got an alert on the Rift monitor," Jack explained. "And seeing how Gwen and Owen have left, I was wondering if you would care to accompany Tosh and me?"

Ianto practically dropped all of the files onto a nearby, fairly unoccupied shelf, though not without unconsciously straightening them into a neat stack. "Of course, sir, if you think I'm ready."

Jack smiled at his nervous coworker and lover. "I have faith in you."

"Even after the…cannibals?"

"Especially after that," Jack clarified. "C'mon, Yan. We're leaving as soon as Tosh has all of the stuff ready."

"Coming, sir!" Ianto said to Jack's retreating back.

"Yep," Jack acknowledged. Ianto frowned slightly, realizing that Jack had not doubted that he would say he would come. Jack sometimes knew Ianto better than Ianto knew himself. That kind of scared him.


	4. Chapter 4

Jack was driving. "How far, Tosh?" he called to the young woman who was in the backseat tonight.

"Less than a mile, Jack. Right, turn right!" Tosh winced as Jack turned so sharply that she was thrown against the door. From Ianto's yelp, she could tell he had been jolted similarly. "Jack, I forgot to mention, the energy levels had a really similar reading to those three aliens we dealt with last week. The ones with the really flat bodies and long legs," she clarified.

"But you killed them," Ianto said, confused, "because they attacked Owen. Surely they can't be back?"

Jack sighed. "It's obviously not the same ones, if it is the same species. Or it could just be some artifact with the same energy readings."

"Erm, actually," Tosh broke in, "it looks really big. I doubt it's just an artifact, unless it's a huge one."

"Anything's possible," Jack said.

Ianto apologized. "Sorry, sir. It was a stupid question."

"When are you going to learn, Ianto? There are no stupid questions. Only inquisitive idiots*," Jack laughed.

Ianto turned red. He wasn't sure what to say to that, so he just stayed silent. Tosh laughed, but not loudly. She didn't want to make him feel worse, but she decided she would talk to him later and make sure he knew Jack didn't really think he was an idiot. One could never tell with Ianto in what way he took a joke.

"Stop, stop, Jack!" Tosh shouted suddenly. "It's really close." Realizing she shouldn't have been so abrupt a moment too late, she grabbed the seat just in time as Jack slammed the brakes. They had been going quite fast, and the SUV jolted unpleasantly.

Without waiting for the others to recover from the stop, Jack was already out of the car. Somehow, he already had a torch out and was shining it out into the night. Ianto and Tosh followed as quickly as they could, each holding a gun and a torch as well as some other equipment.

"Holy…" Jack breathed. His torch was pointed directly at a huge structure sitting in the middle of the isolated field that the road ran through. It was bright white, a smooth mound which had definitely not been there the last time any of them had seen the field. It was about three meters tall and six or seven meters long. "I'm guessing this is our prize, eh Tosh?"

"I'd say so," Tosh said softly.

Ever practical, Ianto had gone right up to the mound, though being cautious not to touch it, and was proceeding to inspect it for any markings on the smooth surface. Jack and Tosh followed slowly, gazing over every inch of the thing. Jack spotted something first.

"Hey!" he cried. "Look at this." He was pointing at a thin seam in the side. "Tosh, you got that lock-picking mechanism thing with you?"

"Always," Tosh replied promptly, taking her small device out of her pocket. She handed it to Jack, who pressed it to the seam and turned it on. A few seconds and a slight whirring later, the seam widened. Throwing caution to the wind, Jack pushed what was now recognizably a door, letting a flood of white light out into the night. He squinted against the light, holding his gun out with both hands. He had dropped the lock-picker, and Tosh had scooped it back up and placed it back safe in her coat pocket.

A horrible, terrified scream rent the air, coming from inside the structure. Jack, Ianto, and Tosh all immediately rushed inside.

"No!" the teenage girl collapsed on the floor was screaming. "Go away, go away, go away, let me go, let me out, go away!" Jack put his gun away quickly, and the others followed his lead. He dropped to his knees next to the girl, who thrust her hands out to push him away. She was obviously terrified, shaking, her eyes squeezed shut, crying out with panic. "Please just go away go away!"

"Hey, it's okay, we're not going to hurt you!" Jack tried to reassure her. She just scrambled backwards away from him, her eyes open now, but not really seeing anything.

Ianto grabbed Jack's shoulder and pulled him to his feet. "Stop! Jack, you're frightening her." Jack threw Ianto's hand off and pulled a syringe out of a pocket in his coat, jabbing it into the girl's arm. She gave one more shriek and fell silent, collapsing limply back onto the floor.

Jack stepped back, breathing fairly hard. "Okay," he said softly. "That wasn't exactly what I was expecting."

Tosh was kneeling next to the girl now. She gently rolled the girl over onto her back, taking in the bruises and cuts covering the girl's face. Judging by the state of her fingernails, stained with blood, they were self-inflicted. "Jack, this is terrible," she said compassionately. "How long must she have been locked up here?"

"No idea."

Ianto had been standing back a little ways since Jack had pushed him away, but he stepped forwards now. "What should we do with her?" he inquired.

Jack glanced back at him, then pulled Tosh to her feet and lifted the girl up like she was a child, one arm behind her knees and one under her back. "For now?" he responded. "We're going to have to take her back to the Hub. We might have to call Owen and Gwen back. Or certainly Owen, judging by her state. She needs a doctor, and it would be difficult to explain all of this to a hospital. Especially after she wakes up."

"But she will wake up?" Tosh asked worriedly.

Jack pushed past his teammates, stepping out of the huge white capsule back into the darkness. "Of course she will. You two, figure out what to do with this thing." He walked off to stow the girl safely in the SUV, leaving Tosh and Ianto standing nonplussed, staring at each other.

"And how exactly are we meant to do that, sir?" Ianto called finally.

"You'll think of something!" Jack replied from a distance.

Tosh and Ianto looked back at each other. "Any ideas?" the Japanese woman asked hopefully.

Ianto shook his head. "Not a one."

"Fantastic. Have we got a…I don't know, miniaturizing ray, or something?"

Ianto sighed. "Possibly something similar, but it would be down in storage. And we wouldn't know how to use it."

"How about using a fulcrum and lever to prop it up onto some sort of trailer we could attach to the SUV?" Tosh said innovatively.

"How do you suppose we'd be viewed driving along with _that_ dragging behind us?" Ianto replied incredulously. Then he sighed again. "I haven't got a better idea. And I suppose it's the middle of the night. No one's going to see us."

Tosh smiled and linked her arm through Ianto's, and they started over towards the SUV. "Since when did we really care what bystanders think of us?"

"I suppose we don't," Ianto conceded.

Jack was standing at the left door of the SUV. The door was open, and the girl had been laid across the seats. Jack looked up at Ianto and Tosh. "Tosh, do you mind sitting with her?" he asked.

Tosh shook her head. "Or course not," she said. "What about-"

Jack handed Ianto a small, triangular device. "This is a perception filter," he explained. "We don't have time to deal with it right now, she's badly dehydrated. Yan, just place it right on the ground next to the capsule, this end pointed at it, and press this button. It'll be disorienting; it's a bit of an odd design, but it's the only one I have with me. Just come right back and don't look at it again." Ianto took the device, nodded, and jogged back over to the capsule.

Tosh climbed carefully into the backseat with the young girl, arranging her so that her head was in Tosh's lap. "Jack, if you hand me a bottle of water, I could see if I could get her to swallow any."

"That would be brilliant, Tosh, here." Then, there was a sudden exclamation from across the field, and Jack laughed. "Be right back. I think Ianto did exactly what I told him _not_ to do."

"Are you surprised?" Tosh said, uncapping the water bottle and tipping a tiny bit into the girl's mouth. Jack didn't hear her, though. He was already running back out into the field.

Keeping his eyes fixed away from where he knew the capsule was, Jack found Ianto looking thoroughly disoriented, blinking quickly and sitting on the ground. "C'mon, Ianto," Jack said, amused. "You should have listened to me." He helped Ianto up and pointedly steered him away from the perception filter's range.

"That was really weird, sir," Ianto said. "I could still see it, but it wasn't there."

Jack opened the door to the passenger's seat, and Ianto got in. "Do you want the science?" he asked. "The perception filter doesn't actually do anything to the light waves reflecting off the object, but it emits an energy signal that temporarily corrupts your brain's ability to interpret them. Hence the 'perception' part. It doesn't make the object invisible. It's just a stronger, less refined version of our 'invisible lift'. And if you didn't know that the capsule was there, it wouldn't have affected you like that, because you wouldn't have had two conflicting signals in the optics center of your brain, expectation and presumed reality." Jack had already slid into the driver's seat, and the SUV was coming to life. He drove off.

Tosh noticed that he was going slower than before. Whether that was because they were no longer feeling in danger of an alien invasion, or because of courtesy to the young girl, Tosh didn't know. Although she did think, if it was the latter, that it was rather inconsiderate of him to slow down for a girl who was unconscious and couldn't feel anything, when he usually went so fast that a stop caused physical injury to all of his teammates in the SUV with him.

"That _was_ very science-y, sir," Ianto said. "Where'd you learn that? I usually rely on Tosh to explain the techy stuff for me. Not that I don't know most of it already," he added.

"An old friend of mine," Jack said. "He had a lot of experience with perception filters; his ship was imbued with one." That was all Jack would say, and the rest of the car ride was filled with silence.

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><p><em>So that was a bit longer. I'd love it if you reviewed... :) Also, I totally made up the science of a perception filter, but that's how I think they work. What do you think? <em>


	5. Chapter 5

Owen Harper was, to put it mildly, ticked off. He came into the Hub with his arms crossed and a scowl permeating not only his face, but his whole body. "All right, I'm here, Jack bloody Harkness, the hell did you want at two in the morning?" he called. He caught sight of Jack, Ianto, and Tosh, all standing around the old, worn out couch adorning the corner of the main room of the Hub. A teenage girl was laying there, out cold. "Who the hell is this?" he said, going up to them quickly.

"Well," Tosh started, glancing nervously from Jack to Owen. "Well, we're not actually sure." Jack cut in then.

"We'll fill you in. But she's dehydrated and sedated, and she needs medical attention, so get to it." Jack did not mince words, and Owen, grumbling, set about attending to the girl while Ianto and Jack alternately explained the night's outing, with Tosh making an occasional interjection.

"Any idea how long she was locked up?" Owen asked professionally, arranging an IV drip with saline solution and other hydrating liquids expertly, while silently cursing the fact that they didn't have a proper medical bay. When any of the team got injured, he had to treat them in the autopsy room. He didn't appreciate that, and he was sure no one else did, either. He'd have to see about changing this situation.

"No clue," Ianto said. "Obviously long enough for her to go a little insane, but not long enough for her to starve, or die of thirst. Though, it looked like her clothes were wet at one point, and she may have chewed the moisture out, judging by the state of her sleeves."

"Brilliant," Owen said sarcastically. "And she hasn't said anything since you got her?"

Tosh shook her head. "She hasn't really had much of a chance. I mean, she was panicking so badly that we couldn't calm her down, so Jack had to sedate her before she hurt herself. And we haven't let her wake up."

"Have you tried to find out who she is?"

"Of course," Toshiko replied. "No girls her age and description have been reported missing over the past month. She was dropped through the Rift; I mean, she could have come from anywhere, although her clothing indicates twenty-first century."

"I suppose we'll just have to ask her when she wakes up," Owen concluded, finishing up treating the scratches on the girl's face.

Jack was leaning up against the wall, looking up at the ceiling. "If she talks to us," he said. "She was so scared earlier, I don't know if we will be able to do anything."

Owen felt awful for suggesting it, but… "Have you considered Retcon?"

Jack breathed out loudly. "Yeah."

Ianto frowned. "Jack, we couldn't just dump her somewhere without knowing who she is when she can't remember anything about her recent history."

"Couldn't we? We've done it before," Jack reminded him harshly.

"Well, yes, but it's not right," Ianto said simply.

Tosh piped up quietly. "I agree with Ianto."

"Thanks, Tosh."

Jack narrowed his eyes, studying Ianto's face. "Okay," he said abruptly. "We won't Retcon her, at least not yet. If she wakes up and is willing to talk to you, come find me."

Ianto hadn't missed the direction those words were pointed at. "Willing to talk to _me_, sir?"

Jack nodded decisively. "Tosh, Owen, you can go home. Get some sleep, I'll see you in the morning. Ianto, stay here with the girl. I'll be in my office."

"Uh, all right," Ianto said, a bit bewildered, as everyone walked off, exchanging goodnights. The lights dimmed, but didn't go out completely. Ianto heard the door to Jack's office shut, and Owen and Tosh left. Ianto sat down on the hard floor, leaning his head against the side of the sofa, allowing himself to close his eyes. It was going to be a long night.


	6. Chapter 6

The night did pass slowly. With everyone else gone, all Ianto could hear was his own breath and that of the girl's. The pteradon was asleep in her nest, seemingly far away from the main room. Not for the first time, he contemplated what would happen when the girl woke up.

What if he failed? What if he couldn't get her to tell him anything, or if her distrust would be so strong and her fear so great that she would hurt herself in an attempt to escape? Jack had trusted him, given him yet another chance to prove himself after the Lisa…incident. After the disastrous trip to the countryside, Ianto had become even more reserved and cautious to act as a fully participating member of the team.

It wasn't that he didn't want to. He was just scared of letting them down, of betraying whatever trust he may have earned back. As much as he had toyed with the idea of leaving Torchwood, he couldn't bear the thought of forgetting them. Forgetting Tosh's quiet friendship, or Gwen's sweet, concerned inquiries as to how he was doing, was unthinkable. Even Owen's sarcastic, degrading remarks hid a mostly kind interior. Surprisingly, though he may not have admitted it to the rest of the team, Owen had come around before either of the girls after Ianto's betrayal and Lisa's death. And even if he felt so guilty over having feelings for someone else so soon after Lisa, Ianto would miss Jack; no matter if he could actually remember anything, Ianto was sure that he would feel the absence of his friends.

Right now, though, Ianto was more concerned with the young girl lying on the sofa behind him. Her breathing was becoming louder and less even. Did that mean she would wake up soon? Ianto stayed very still, holding his breath. There was a sharp gasp from behind him. He remained still, waiting.

The girl's voice was tremulous, but not panicky. "Hello? Where am I? What happened?" Ianto didn't know how to respond, but she kept talking. "Is anyone there?"

"Hello," Ianto said softly, not standing up, just staying behind the arm of the couch. The girl couldn't see him.

"Who are you?" she asked. He could hear her try to sit up, to get off the couch. "Why did it go dark?"

Ianto stood up then, slowly, so as not to frighten her unduly. He didn't answer the questions. "Don't try and get up," he said gently. He walked around the couch so she could see him. Her eyes were wide, green and frightened in the near darkness of the Hub. She fell back down at his request. "What's your name?"

"Why?" she asked suspiciously. "Are you the one who took me?"

Ianto didn't know how to answer that. He went with, "No. I'm not the one who abducted you. But the team that I am a part of came to get you."

"Are you the police?" she asked. "You don't look it." Her accent was very strong and very Welsh.

Ianto smiled carefully at her. "No, we're not the police."

"I didn't think so. If you were the police, I'd be in hospital, not on a couch in some…What is this place?"

The Welshman kneeled down next to the couch. The girl shrank away from him. "A question for a question. Name?"

"Don't matter."

"Interesting name." Ianto raised his eyebrows sarcastically.

She turned her face away. "Don't need a name. I'm no one."

"Don't say that. Everyone needs a name."

"What's yours, then?"

"Ianto," he replied. "Ianto Jones."

She didn't give her name even then. "And where am I?"

"Safe," Ianto reassured her. "You're in Torchwood. Do you want to know who captured you?"

"Do you know?"

"Aliens," he said bluntly. "You were captured by aliens. How long were you locked up in there?"

"I believe you," she said. "About the aliens, that is. I saw them, just for a minute. I know they aren't human. I worked it out pretty quick."

"How long?" Ianto pressed.

"Dunno." She looked at him, her eyes going fairly dull and tired. "Long enough."

"I'm sorry we couldn't get to you sooner."

"S'pose you're busy."

"Well, yes," Ianto conceded, "but if we had known that there had been an abduction, we would have made that our top priority. Unfortunately, we only had known about the aliens themselves. Don't worry, we dealt with them."

"Thanks, I guess."

There was a pause. "Are you going to tell me your name now?"

"…Angela."

"Last name? Next of kin?"

Angela shook her head. "Haven't got either of those."

"Really? Where did you come from, then, Angela?"

"Can't really remember. I sleep in a shelter, I think. I don't remember much besides the light, the blankness…the rain and the night and the glow…" She brushed away something from under her eye. Ianto noticed that they were glistening slightly. He pretended not to.

"That explains why no one had reported you missing," Ianto observed.

"Yeah."

"All right," Ianto said, standing up. "Stay here for a minute."

Angela sat up quickly. "Where are you going?" she said, a note of desperation in her voice.

Ianto paused. "I have to tell Jack—my boss—that you're awake." He couldn't pretend that he didn't see the fear in her eyes. "What's wrong?"

Angela shook her head. "Nothing."

"Really."

"I just…I don't want…"

Ianto sat back down, this time on the arm of the couch by Angela's feet. "You don't want to be alone?"

She nodded, ashamed of her weakness. Ianto felt a rush of pity. The girl could have been only fifteen or sixteen years old, and she must have gone through hell. Shut up in an empty white room for who knows how long? Ianto knew he would probably be handling it much worse. He probably would have gone insane. "Okay," he said. "I don't have to leave. Do you want to go back to sleep?"

"Okay," she murmured, settling back onto the couch. Ianto found an old blanket tucked in a pile in the corner and draped it over her as she fell back asleep. He waited until he was sure she was sound asleep before treading quietly over to Jack's office.

… … … … …

Jack was waiting for him, leaning back in the old chair stationed behind his long, curved, cluttered desk. "Well?" he asked as Ianto knocked once on the door and stepped inside.

"She woke up, sir," Ianto told him.

"And?" Apparently Jack spoke in single words this late at night. He looked exhausted, but was hiding it well, as always.

"Her name's Angela. No last name. Homeless, I think. She's very obviously traumatized, but doing okay. She went back to sleep."

"Hmm." Jack closed his eyes. "So, what do you say we do, Ianto?"

Ianto frowned. Was Jack asking his opinion? "Um, we should look after her for a couple of days? Just until we're certain she'll be alright, and then make sure she has somewhere to go?"

"Are you asking me, or telling me?"

God, he sounded like a cross teacher, telling off a student who was uncertain about a homework answer. Ianto resisted the urge to inform Jack of this fact. "Just a suggestion, sir."

"Alright. Go get some rest, Yan. You've done good tonight."

"Thank you, sir." Ianto couldn't stop himself adding "And you should go to sleep, too. You look bloody awful. No offense, sir."

"None taken. 'Night."

"It's four in the morning, sir. Not exactly 'night'."

"My point remains."

Ianto dipped his head in agreement, and left as quietly as he had come, shutting the door behind him. Jack let out a long sigh, stood up slowly, turned the light off, and collapsed onto the bed built into the wall of his office.

* * *

><p><em>I don't know...I like Angela! Do you? <em>


	7. Chapter 7

An underground base didn't allow for much light to come in when the sun rose. Seven in the morning, Owen came into the Hub for work. He took one look at Ianto, curled up on the ground clutching a blanket half on top of him like he was a child, and decided not to wake him just yet. Not bothering to turn on the lights, Owen wandered down to the morgue and began some paperwork. He hated paperwork. Though not as much as he hated dissecting alien bodies, or, God forbid, treating an actual patient.

_Why the hell am I a doctor_? he asked himself. He had just wanted to save lives, but now he seemed to be taking them more often than saving them. He couldn't concentrate on his paperwork for some reason. It was too early for this, and with Ianto asleep, there was no one to bring him coffee. He'd never dare to touch Ianto's beloved coffee machine without the tea boy's permission. Owen sighed, placing the papers down on the autopsy table serving as a desk and gave up. He'd get to it later, after Ianto had made the coffee.

… … … … …

Jack decided that three hours of sleep was enough. It was more than he usually got, anyway. He rolled out of his bed and took enough time to pull on his long grey coat and tug his hair into place before leaving his office.

_Owen is probably already here_, Jack reflected. He couldn't help smiling when he saw Ianto lying on the floor next to the couch. He looked very young there. Jack felt bad waking him up, but they had work to do.

He knelt next to the Welshman and shook his shoulder gently. "Wake up, Yan."

Ianto opened his eyes. "Is it morning?"

"It's been morning since you went to sleep."

"Oh. Right." Ianto yawned, sitting up and throwing his blanket to the side. "Before you ask, Angela hasn't woken up again. I don't think that the sedative wore off completely when she did wake up."

"All right," Jack replied, taking Ianto's hand and pulling him up. Ianto yawned again. "How much sleep did you actually get?"

"Maybe an hour," Ianto said. "Maybe two. What time is it?"

"Seven thirty."

"What?!" Ianto exclaimed. "Has anyone else come in yet? I have to go make coffee."

"Slow down," Jack laughed. "Owen probably already came in, but I only just woke up, too. It's Gwen's day off, and Tosh isn't here yet. And if Owen gives you a hard time about not bringing the coffee on time, just tell me. That being said, you should go make the coffee."

Ianto rolled his eyes. "Yes, sir." He headed over to his kitchen equipped with his coffee machine. Jack leaned against the couch, looking at Angela. She had her face pressed into the side of the couch, her arms wrapped around herself protectively. She looked like she was hiding from the world. Jack knew the feeling.

"Hey, Angela," he said softly. She stirred a tiny bit. "Hey there. You want to wake up? You'll be okay, I promise." Angela turned her head towards him, blinking awake slowly. She looked disoriented and frightened, but then Ianto called out from the adjoined kitchen, and her expression relaxed a little as she recognized his voice.

"Jack? Did you say something?" Ianto said as he strode out, holding two steaming mugs of coffee. He noticed that Angela was awake. "Angela!" he said joyfully. "How are you feeling?" Ianto handed Jack his coffee, and the captain took a sip gratefully.

Angela sat up, her arms wrapped around herself still. "I'm…all right, I think," she said cautiously.

"That's great. We're going to figure everything out today, okay?"

"Yeah. Thank you, for helping me."

"It's what we do," Jack broke in. "Well, usually we help by saving the whole world. But we're pretty great at individual rescue, too."

Angela allowed herself a small smile at Jack's talk. "That's very modest."

Jack took another drink of his coffee. "Oh yeah. We're that, too." He smiled at her over his mug. Not one of his usual flirty grins, but a very genuine, kind smile.

"Would you like a cup of tea, Angela?" Ianto asked.

"Yes, please," Angela responded.

Ianto nudged Jack with his elbow. "Sir, would you take this to Owen so I can look after Angela, please?"

Jack took the other cup of coffee. "Sure thing, Ianto. I'll be right back."

Ianto held a hand out to Angela and helped her to stand up off the couch. She stood unsteadily for a moment before getting her balance back. "Come on then," he said gently. "Come with me."

… … … … …

"Owen, you here?" Jack called as he walked into the autopsy room. "Ianto made us coffee."

The medic looked up from his paperwork (which he still hadn't really started). "Ah, great, thanks. Has the girl woken up, too?"

"Yeah," Jack said. "Her name's Angela. She's homeless."

"Which is why we couldn't find her."

Jack nodded.

"Is Teaboy with her?"

"Yeah, Ianto's looking after her. You should stop calling him Teaboy," Jack added.

"Well, it's sort of what he is."

"He's a full member of the team, Owen."

"Still."

"'Still' nothing." A hint of anger was playing in Jack's words now. "Think about what he did with the cannibals. He let himself be beaten and tortured and almost killed to let Tosh escape."

"And failed to do just that."

"But he gave me enough time to come and rescue them. But he still thinks he failed, too, and ever since the cy—Lisa, he holds the mindset that we don't trust him."

Owen stayed silent for a moment. "Do we?"

"Yes," Jack replied decisively. "Maybe we didn't for a while, but he's proved himself many times over the past few months. And you need to forgive him."

"I've forgiven him. Doesn't mean I trust him."

"Well, I do." And with that, Jack left, leaving Owen behind, coffee in hand.

* * *

><p><em>I really do love Owen, too! Even if it might not seem like it in this chapter. But this is how he acted in season one...<em>


	8. Chapter 8

"You're handling everything pretty well, all things considered," Ianto said, sitting across the small table, situated in the kitchen, from Angela. She had a cup of tea and a piece of toast that Ianto had given her.

"I guess I've learned how to adjust to situations," she answered him. "Guess that's what comes from living on my own. Please, tell me, what were those things that captured me? I know they're aliens, but that's not enough. Where were they from, what were they called? Had you ever seen them before?"

"I dunno what species they were," the Welshman told her. "I'd never seen them before, but it seemed like Jack recognized them. He didn't know the species name, though. You could ask him more about them, if you were really curious. I want to apologize for something," he added. "I think we might have been the reason you were left in that ship, or prison, or whatever it was, for so long."

"How so?"

"Well, we had gotten…I guess you could say a signal, telling us something of alien origin had arrived, about a week ago." Ianto didn't want to have to explain the whole thing about the Rift to the girl, though if she asked about Torchwood, he might have to. Of course, if he told Angela everything, Jack would probably kill him. "And we found the aliens, and we killed them after they attacked one of us, but we didn't look any farther than that until last night. Tosh, Toshiko Sato, our tech expert and field agent, got another signal last night from the thing you were being kept in." Angela shuddered. "Sorry, did I say something wrong?"

She shook her head slowly. "No…just…'the thing'. It's like, we don't even have a name for it. It needs a name, what can we call it?"

"That's up to you."

Angela hesitated, and finished the last bite of her toast before replying. "Monotony."

"As its name? Really?" Ianto said, curiously. "Why?"

"Cos that's what it is, the whole thing. It's just white, and glowy, and blank, and monotonous. I did this thing, when I was shut in there," she tried to explain. "Just to make the time pass a little more quickly until…until something happened. Until they came back, or I was rescued, or…Okay, I'll admit it. I was waiting to die. Anyway, I would think of a word. And I would repeat it over and over and over and over again, just inside my head, not out loud, until it didn't mean anything. Each word would just end up being a collection of trivial sounds. Monotonous was one of the first words I did that with."

Ianto looked at her intensely. He couldn't imagine what that must be like, destroying words just to break the monotony. He loved words. They made sense when people didn't. They could quantify feelings and thoughts and experiences, and make them more manageable. How could anyone bear to lose their words? "Does it mean something again?"

"Well…" she started. "Sort of. It's different now, it, maybe, has less meaning. Or maybe it means more, or just something different. I just, I don't know."

For the first time since she had woken up, she seemed to be on the verge of tears. "Careful," Ianto said, softly, but trying to lighten the situation. "You don't want to get saltwater in your tea."

She let out a small laugh and smiled at him gratefully, then looked up and blinked the tears away. "Sorry," she said.

"Don't apologize."

Angela changed the subject. Ianto thought she might have been scared that she would really start crying if she kept talking. "Tell me about the people you work with here."

"Well," Ianto started. "You met Jack, just for a minute, back there. That's Captain Jack Harkness. He's…" Ianto could feel his face getting a little warm. Was he blushing? "He's our leader. He's been here longer than any of us."

"He's hot," Angela said conversationally.

Ianto sputtered slightly. "Uh. Uh, well, right. Okay. And um…And I mentioned Tosh, she's the tech expert, like I said. She's our computer girl. She'll probably be coming in soon, and she came with Jack and me last night when we got you. She went home to get some sleep. And then there's Owen Harper, he's our doctor. He's second in command to Jack. He can be really abrupt and rude, but he's nice when he needs to be." Ianto remembered how kind Owen had been to him when treating his injuries after the countryside, when Ianto had been so exhausted and stressed and in pain that he snapped at the medic numerous times. Owen hadn't seemed to lose patience once. "He's already here. He'll probably be coming up later, if he's not too busy. He's still working on the paperwork associated with the three alien bodies, the ones who took you.

"And there's Gwen Cooper. It's her day off. She's pretty new, came to Torchwood less than six months ago. Jack sometimes calls her Torchwood's 'heart'. She was a police officer before she came to us, and she still acts like one sometimes, making 'murder boards' on walls, compiling evidence, that sort of thing. She acts as liaison with the police when we need her to."

"What about you?" Angela asked.

"Me?" Ianto said, surprised.

"What do you do? Jack's the leader, Tosh's the tech, Owen's the doctor, and Gwen's the liaison…what about you?"

Ianto was taken aback. He wasn't used to talking about himself. People didn't usually ask, so he didn't tell. "I just make the coffee, clean up."

"But you went out into the field last night. Where does that fit in?"

Ianto had to think about how to respond to that. "It doesn't, really," he said finally. "But I made a huge mistake, not too long ago, and I suppose Jack's trying to give me more chances to redeem myself."

"What did you do?"

Ianto was reaching now for anything to say, so he didn't have to talk about Lisa. He didn't want to talk about Lisa. "I…just…I betrayed their trust. I…hid something, one, here, and it, she, endangered the safety of the whole world, and…" He broke off. "And, anyways, it doesn't really matter."

"Sounds like it really does," Angela murmured, but didn't press any further, and Ianto let out a sigh of relief. "It sounds wonderful. Working here, with these people, seeing aliens and knowing that you are privileged to know things no one else knows."

"It is, sometimes. But not always." Ianto thought back again to the cannibals. "Sometimes, humans can be worse than any of the aliens."

"That doesn't surprise me."

* * *

><p><em>Thanks for reading! Please review if you're not busy! <em>


	9. Chapter 9

Jack stood outside of the kitchen, making sure neither Ianto nor Angela saw him. He didn't want to interrupt their conversation. He loved hearing what Ianto said about the other members of the team, and he almost couldn't stop himself laughing at Angela's remark that he was hot and Ianto's flustered response, which was sort of cute.

But then the conversation seemed to be getting hard for Ianto. Jack had to stop himself from walking in and saving Ianto from having to mention Lisa. Ianto skirted around the topic pretty well by himself, though. Jack's heart went out to Ianto when the recent trauma of the cannibals flitted through the young Welshman's mind and showed on his face. That was when he walked in, keeping his expression light. "Hey, you two," he said. "How're you doing?"

"Alright," Ianto replied, looking up at him. "Owen did get in, right, sir?"

"Yup," Jack told him. "Angela, we're going to try and get you back to where you belong today."

"Sounds good, but I don't really belong anywhere."

Jack's heart went out to her. She sounded so lost, but she covered it so well. "Well, we're going to find a place for you to belong, then. Whatever it takes. You're our responsibility."

Angela smiled. "Thank you for being so kind to me."

"Of course. And I'm going to call Toshiko and ask her to bring in some extra clothes for you when she comes in, because that sweater and those jeans look like they've taken a beating." The captain smiled again and left. He pulled out his phone to call Tosh but before he could dial, the round, cog-like door to the Hub spun open and Tosh walked in. She was carrying a bag over one shoulder.

"Jack!" she said cheerily. "Hello! I brought some extra clothes in case the girl needs some. Has she woken up yet? Is she okay?"

Jack laughed at her forethought and the irony of the whole situation. "Yeah, she woke up, Toshiko. Her name is Angela. She and Ianto are talking in the kitchen. In fact, I was about to call and ask you to bring some clothes for her, so thanks for being brilliant."

Tosh blushed at the compliment. "I'll just go and see if she wants these, then." She headed towards the kitchen.


	10. Chapter 10

_Tosh is nice_, Angela reflected as she walked out of the washroom wearing a clean, teal, button-up blouse and a black skirt that fell just past her knees. The young Japanese woman seemed to understand exactly how Angela felt about her imprisonment, more so than Ianto, though he had been very kind, too. Angela found herself chatting with Toshiko freely about what she had thought about while she had been locked away, and Toshiko listened to everything. Tosh gave Angela a hair-tie, and Angela put her long dark hair deftly up into a tight bun at the bottom of her hairline.

"That's a bit old," Toshiko remarked, in reference to the hairstyle. "Is that how you normally do your hair?"

Normally, Angela might have been offended, but somehow she wasn't this time. "I guess it is. It's just easy this way."

"Come here," Tosh offered. "Let me braid it."

Angela went over hesitantly and turned her back to Tosh. "Okay," she agreed.

Tosh undid Angela's bun and wove the hair into a long, neat French braid. Angela closed her eyes. She didn't remember anyone ever doing her hair before. "You know, I didn't know how to braid for the longest time," Tosh said. "A friend of mine who used to work here, Suzie, taught me how."

"What happened to her?"

"She died," Tosh replied softly.

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"It's alright." Toshiko finished the braid and tugged the hair-tie around the end. "There you go," she said. "All finished."

"Thank you, Toshiko," Angela said. She turned around and smiled at the young woman.

"You're welcome, Angela. And thank you for letting me practice my braids. I haven't done one in ages. Gwen doesn't like them, and I can't do a French braid on myself very well, so I've not practiced since Suzie died."

Impulsively, Angela threw her arms around Tosh. The Japanese woman responded warmly, hugging back. After a couple of seconds, Tosh gave a gentle squeeze and stepped back. "Come on, then. They'll be wondering where we went."

* * *

><p><em>Warning: The next and last chapter is very very sad but please read it. You should know how Angela's story ends if you've come this far with her, and thank you for staying. <em>


	11. Chapter 11

It was two days after the team had rescued Angela. Several emergencies had come up, stopping them from figuring everything out and finding her a place to go, but then, that was Torchwood. Nothing ever went according to plan.

Finally, though, it was time to say goodbye. Ianto had pulled a few strings and had found Angela a job in a nice coffee shop in London. Together, the team paid for the first few months of the rent on Angela's new flat. Jack had called it an "apology for being late." Angela called it pity, or sometimes "a bit of a miracle, since a few days ago I was really wishing to be dead." She was happy to accept the help all the same.

Tosh had given her a hug and made her promise to call them occasionally. Jack had told her good luck, and "we'll see you again someday, I'm sure." Even Owen had given her a sort of smile and shaken her hand, wishing her luck with her life. And Ianto had hugged her, whispering "thank you" into her ear.

"Goodbye," Angela said softly, waving, as she rode in a cab away to her new life. They waved back.

A year and a half later, Angela received a phone call.

"Hello, this is Angela Smith speaking."

"Angela, it's Ianto Jones. From Torchwood."

"Ianto! Those explosions—."

"Yeah."

"Are you alright? Is everyone…"

"No." Ianto was crying. Angela's heart sank, even before as his next words came. The words she hoped not to hear. "It's…Toshiko. And Owen."

"No."

"Angela, they're…they were…killed."

"No."

"Would you, would you like to come and…"

"I—."

"It's okay if you don't."

"I don't think..." There was a long pause. "I'm sorry."

"It's alright. I just thought you would want to know. No one else would…Jack and Gwen, they're not…I was left to make the calls…there weren't many. But I thought I should call you."

"Thank you, Ianto."

"Even if you haven't seen them in almost six months, I thought…"

"Thank you." Angela pressed the 'end call' button. She sat down in her chair in the tiny kitchen of her flat. There were tears in her eyes, but she didn't let them fall. She remembered Tosh coming over to see her on the rare occasions she could find time off. The Japanese woman would take her shopping, and would never let Angela pay. She seemed almost to be Angela's older sister. Owen had come once, too. Angela could tell that Tosh had asked him, and he couldn't refuse. They'd had tea and coffee at the café where Angela worked…She had looked forward to those visits. As little time as she had spent with the Torchwood team, they were like family to her, some of the only friends she ever had.

A few months after that, there were those attacks from the metal creatures, with their bronze shells and harsh voices. And the whole planet moved! Angela knew Torchwood had to have been involved. Somehow, she had escaped unscathed. The next day, she got another phone call. "Angela Smith speaking."

"Oh, thank goodness you're alright."

"Ianto! Is everything fine at Torchwood?"

"We're all still alive. I was just worried about you."

"I'm fine. Thank you for calling."

"No problem. I was just checking on you, we're so busy, I don't have much time to talk. I'm sure I'll see you again sometime."

"Angela Smith speaking."

"Hello, Angela, this is…this is Gwen Cooper. You only met me once."

"I remember."

"I just…" The Welsh-accented woman was sobbing brokenly.

_Oh…no. _That whole thing with those kids. Then, Angela just _knew_.

"Ianto, he…" Gwen could barely get the words out.

"He's dead, isn't he?" Angela said, ever so quietly.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. But he…he left this list, with his sister, things he wanted done if…if this happened, you know. I'm the only one left to do anything about it, Jack's gone, and Ianto wanted you to be told."

"Yeah. Thank you. Goodbye, Gwen."

Angela clicked her phone closed. She collapsed down onto her bed and sobbed at the loss of her last friends.

Angela was killed four years later in a hit and run car accident. She was twenty-one. She had a boyfriend, a new flat, and a kitten who she named Tosh. There were not very many people at her funeral, just Mathew (her boyfriend), his family, and a few friends from work.

Oh, and just one more person. A fairly tall, handsome man in a very long grey greatcoat. He gave a salute to her grave before walking away and seeming to fade into the distance before disappearing altogether from view. No one noticed, no one saw. But Captain Jack Harkness wanted to pay his respects to the one who had helped the one he had loved. For let it never be said that he let a debt go unpaid. If he lived for another five billion years, that was one thing he would never do.

* * *

><p><em>Thank you so much for reading this. I never expected it to get quite so sad, but I hope you liked it anyway. I loved writing it. <em>

_Thank you. _


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